Hyde5: Is Wade a dirty player? Let's look at video evidence

December 28, 2012|Dave Hyde

1. Dwyane Wade sent out this tweet in the wake of his one-game suspension for kicking Charlotte’s Ramon Sessions in his manhood: “I’m far from being a dirty player + my intent was never 2 kick Ramon Sessions. I just reacted to the contact that I got from him.”

You can make a case either way on this. It seemed to me his initial reaction continued with a conscious kick to Sessions' sweet spot. But at that point we're judging intent, which is difficult to do. What's not so difficult is to understand Wade's body of work begins to work against him at some point.

And that raises the point Wade raised himself: Is he a dirty player? Let’s look at the evidence against him in some recent incidents. Any one of these by itself isn't much. Together they suggest something I conclude at the end.

Exhibit A: Breaking Kobe Bryant’s nose in the 2012 All-Star Game . The case: Midway through the third quarter, Bryant beat Wade on a move to the basket. Wade made a hard foul from behind, evidently swiping at the ball and getting Bryant’s nose. This would’ve been a normal foul in a normal game. But it’s the kind of hard foul you rarely - never? - see in an All-Star Game.

Exhibit B: Running down Indiana’s Darren Collison on a breakaway with the Heat down by nine points in the playoffs last year and sending Collison 10 feet into the stands. “He just looked like a free safety lining up a receiver here … Wade just tees off on Collison,’’ TNT announcer Steve Kerr said.

Exhibit C: While defending Chicago’s Richard Hamilton last April, Wade was the recipient of a normal, space-clearing move from Hamilton’s elbow. Wade then delivered a perfect forearm shiver last Hamilton, sending him to the ground. “Literally shoved out of bounds,’’ TNT announcer Reggie Miller said.

Exhibit D: After Boston’s Rajon Rondo poked away a ball from Wade in the 2011 playoffs, Wade appeared to box out Rondo from the ball, became entangled with him and fell in a heap with him to the floor. It’s going overboard to say any bad intentions were obvious. But Rondo and the Celtics got the worst of it as he dislocated his elbow.

Exhibit E: Sessions’ kick to the manhood.

Here’s my bottom-line on Wade: Dirty? No, Wade’s not dirty. Dirty is reserved for players who go out of their way to intentionally injure an opponent. Hit the head. Clothesline on a lay-up. Bill Laimbeer-type stuff.

Wade is chippy. And, yes, there is a difference between that and dirty. All this evidence would be high praise for him if the sport was hockey, where a bit of borderline play is deemed valuable for sending messages and protecting turf. And let’s throw in an incident like this that speaks well of Wade.

In 2011, Kevin Garnett set a hard back-screen on Mike Miller, knocking Miller to the floor in Boston. As Garnett rolled to the basket, Wade ran into Garnett, knocking him down. “I love it,’’ ABC announcer Jeff Van Gundy said. He loved Garnett’s screen and loved Wade’s standing up for a teammate.

That’s the best of Wade’s chippiness. The big difference there is he's reacting to a physical play by an opponent. Some of the others? He seems to react to an opponent beating him on a play. That’s the worst of it.

And the fear isn't his reputation gets stained. The real fear for the Heat is that at some point an opponent is going to take a run at Wade and hurt him with a hard foul.

2. Quote of the day: "It doesn't take a hero to order men into battle. It takes a hero to be one of those men who goes into battle." Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf, who died on Thursday.

3. Mike Westhoff is one of my favorite coaches that I've dealt with. Smart. Honest. Funny. Cantankerous. Human. Egostistical. And now retiring from the New York Jets as special-teams coach. Westhoff coached with the Dolphins for years in the same capacity until Dave Wannstedt fired him. And, as dumb a move as that was, you can see why Wannstedt did. Westhoff thought he should be coach - and he couldn't have done worse. He went to owner H. Wayne Huizenga after Jimmy Johnson left with a list of coaches he'd hire and the plan to keep Dan Marino at quarterback for another year.

Westhoff's special teams traditionally were among the league's best, and he'd tell you the strategies that helped them. It was all match-ups - and he'd run the tape to show you. He wasn't afraid of some writer saying anything in the way most coaches are. He also wasn't afraid of touting himself, as when he evidently told New York writers he invented the onside kick (like Al Gore invented the Internet). There's some truth to Westhoff's claim. He taught Olindo Mare to smash the ball into the ground, causing it to pop up in the air in the form of onside kick that's popular today.

Westhoff also notably fought cancer in the most human of ways, talking about it, suffering from it and it appears like beating it. For Sunday's finale, Westhoff will have his son, Mike, on the sidelines with him. He taught Mike to be a long-snapper and he was at the University of Pennsylvania. That's a nice touch by the Jets as a good man, and a fun man, leaves the game.

4. Anyone getting too worked up about Pro Bowl snubs needs a history lesson: Players typically get voted on after they should and stay on a year too late. It takes that year for the voting to catch up to game. In other words, take heart, Reshad Jones and Mike Pouncey. You'll get there, if your game stays at this level.